Arriving at the Hilton Hotel I quickly meet with fellow student John and soon gather the rest of the crew together. After some meet and greet with Alex and the interns we retreat into a secluded corner to begin what will be an experience I will never forget.
Alex runs us through some protocol about the boot camp, to which I agree to wholeheartedly. We’re tasked with writing a letter to our inner chode and flushing it. Suitable time to get out all of my restraints and limiting beliefs. Lack of experiences, always thinking other guys are ahead of me, not deeming myself good enough. After some shenanigans with John trying to flush the paper (apologies to the Hilton Hotel janitors) we return and get thrown some questions which really caught me off guard.

I suppose when you’re surrounded by 7 guys who you know all have more experience than you you’re going to be less direct so you don’t feel as foolish; there seems to be a lot of respect that goes hand in hand with being good with women and I wanted to keep together the little that I had. I soon realize afterwards this truly is my Achilles heel. I recall saying I wanted freedom, and when prompted for something else I replied “a lay would be nice”. Clearly I hadn’t come to terms with what I was doing there. Truth be told I wanted my reality to be broken, I wanted to expand myself and break through the barriers that I feel whenever I’m in a social setting.

Following a layout of the game plan for the evening we head out to a club/hostel. Amazing setting for a first night. Travelers were not only more friendly, but it gave for easy discussion and a constantly flowing environment that meant we could keep up sets without worrying “wait…did I speak to that blonde already?”. Without a doubt the biggest standout of this BC was the approach to the nights. It’s not about storming into the club and rampaging through people. Alex reminds us of the importance of warming up, and expecting a good 3-4 blowouts before you become adjusted to your surroundings. Alex’s signature elbow of destruction starts flailing about and I quickly pick up the pace. His attentiveness was fantastic, and even though there were 2 others students I felt he was with me the whole time.

A few sets stood out until I found a girl I spent most the night with. I opened a three set and was hastily joined by Tim (fellow student and wingman from heaven) and later John. The funniest part was the girl I was talking to being completely obsessed with her friend (who John eventually grabbed) – “oh my friend has traveled there, oh my friend is from there, oh my friend studies there”. She decided to use the classic fake phone call to bail and pull her friend with her, frantically shouting “we have a phone call, quick, a phone call, hey come here quick”. Hilarious.

Soon after I was confronted with a mixed set. Alex armed me with a line, assured me the two guys were geeks and launched me in between two girls. Moran, an intern hitting up Australia with Alex, plants himself next to the chode and starts chatting to him. The chode: “hey do you guys do this a lot, where one guy sits next to the girl and the other guy distracts the guy”. Moran and I: “What? *confused looks* “What are you talking about”. I ask the girl if she knows the dude, to which she applies no – very good sign. The girl eventually gets up to go to the bathroom and I head back to the lads to relax for a bit.

A girl approaches me and asks if John, the sexy silver fox, is a celebrity since the guys were taking photos with him. I blow off the question, tell her he's a formula 1 driver and start talking to her. British accent, kinda cute, and a lot of fun to talk to. Everything at this point starts clicking. My instincts kick in and I start leading her around the club. All that time worrying about coming off as too aggressive when it feels so natural and normal. I created a role play about us being an old couple and find it a great source of conversation and playful behavior. At one point the girl I was talking to in the mixed set sits back down and I get confused. I think to myself: “What the fuck do I do when I was just gaming one girl, then move on to the next, and they end up being friends. Once more, what happens when I like her more than the girl I’m with now. Fuck!”. Luckily Alex swoops in, pulls her away and eventually passes her to Tim. They come and join us and we head to the dance floor. I see Tim getting very friendly with his girl and think to myself – “shit, I should probably go for the make out.” I let it slide and enjoy the moment before heading back to the lounges. Chilling out enjoying each others company, we end up getting really close and I just go for the make out. Awesome. I spend the rest of the evening with her, and eventually the attraction dies down. I start to think about how I should be doing more approaches and learning while I have Alex here, but now writing this I realize that’s the whole process – chill in the venue, then warm up, then focus on one girl. Alex sends me a text – “time = attraction”. I head to the interns to ask about extracting, but didn’t end up going through with it. I wasn’t really attracted to her, and for most of the night her breath smelt like boiled vegetables. I learned a shit load from the interaction, and most importantly solidified in my mind that I can actually do it.

Friday the 17th of September, 2010

We head to Alex’s hotel at 12pm for a debrief and video session. Most importantly this helped me realize how normal the whole process is. Alex doesn’t use tricks, lines, or other nonsense. He sticks to the method and shows it works. More importantly as someone who has seen a lot of material from RSD it shows he’s on the cutting edge of the new stuff, not using stuff from 3 years ago.

After a rest at home I head back to the hotel to hit up a club before the football crowd arrives. Fucking amazing night. No numbers, no pull, all lessons. For the night I was satisfied with lessons above anything – becoming de-sensitized to all of the nonsense was so rewarding. Trusting in the chill/relax phase and the warm-up process pays off big time. We arrive at the venue and Alex gathers us together – “guys, this place generally closes at 3am. That means we have 6 hours – 6 hours to go. Chill out, relax, then warm-up a little later.” For me that was a huge change in perspective – time moves fast when you’re out in the club, but if you sit down at the start and actually think about the time you have, it stretches the night and makes it feel like a journey, not something that flies past you. My past experience revolves around arriving and hitting the ground running – this leads to 1-2 hours before you leave being in zombie mode from the overwhelming night.

I started a little slow, chasing Alex for direction rather than taking initiative. These things take time. I do some sets, making a point for the night to become better at remember girls names by rhyming them with something (got this from The Office, can be good fun). 4 set to start off with. Weird asian girl was named Kevin, which I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out. What sick bastard names a girl Kevin. She got named Bodyguard for the god that is Kevin Costner. Her bitchiness and tests roughed me up for the night which was great, I was into one of the girls from that group and should have gone back for her. Next.

Kept rolling around, not really getting anywhere. At this point I wanted to do some crazy shit, so Alex gives me some wacky stuff. “Go up to those two and tell them that you eat kebabs when you’re depressed.” I approach, drop the line, and one of them who ends up being in her late 30’s spends 35 minutes giving me life advice about how I should enjoy life and not worry about my girlfriend (which I made up to help facilitate the conversation). I thought about this later and found it fucking hilarious that she paid no attention to what I actually said – I eat kebabs when I’m depressed. Awesome.

Pregnant girl. Defining moment of the night. Alex pulled me into his 3 set, quickly jumped out and watched on. I wasn’t attracted to her and was just talking to her for the sake of expanding some horizons. One of girls friends was pulling her belt, and it looked like she was rubbing her stomach. When I don’t give a fuck I tend to say shit that makes no sense (I remember once watching a band, approaching a girl, and then for some reason asking if she was in the band. Need to approach with intent, not to practice). My not giving a fuck mode lead me to ask if she was pregnant. Oh boy did that not go down well. Received a swift “you’re done” and she walked off. Later some song was playing that had the words “fuck you” in the chorus, so she actually makes the effort to swing me around and say “fuck you” with the finger up. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING GREAT. Exactly what I wanted, because I really didn’t give a shit about both fucking up and her telling me to get fucked. Indifference for the win.

At some point in the night it hit me that I was practicing and not actually wanting the girls I was talking to. I decided to do some leering, moving around to find my girl. Enter red shoes girl. Absolutely glorious. Standing near the dance floor with Tim and she just strolls by, so I grab her and Tim being the maverick he is grabs the friend. We chat for a bit, she is fucking awesome (alternative girl, tall, dark hair with blue eyes, great music taste, my type to a T). Sadly doesn’t want to split from the friend even though Tim is with her. We go to dance, I try to pull her away for five minutes but they head to the bathroom. Spent the rest of the night looking for her with no avail. LESSON LEARNED: When a girl is going to leave, just get the fucking number. No is not an acceptable response, just get it.

Rainbow girl. Alex points out a 2 set with a chode, tells me to fuck him off and chat with them. Approach, use kebab line, Tim swoops in along with Moran and eventually the guy gets distracted. Girl seemed a bit drunk; she couldn’t figure out why I was talking to her. She told me to come up with a reason in 3 seconds why I was talking to her or I would have to leave. I told her she looked like a rainbow. BAM – hand shove, get the fuck out. Kept plowing, talking shit about rainbows and how I like them. Girls call their boyfriends over and the set falls apart. Fun times.

More approaches then I thought I would ever had tonight, and it was amazing. Walked away feeling so alive – all those times I worried about offending people, or pissing people off were for nothing, because it doesn’t matter.

Saturday 18th of September, 2010

Saturday was a crash and burn for me, for quite a few reasons. We went to the hotel and headed to Borders bookstore to do some day game. Personally i’ve done a lot of daytime approaches, but have done so poorly that I’ve conditioned my brain to think that it doesn’t go anywhere, and the idea of getting a number was just out of reach. I ended up pursuing Alex for challenges, which were fun, but at the end of the day if I’m not working with intent I’m just practicing. Three quarters of the approaches I did were Asian girls, and I cannot stand Asian girls. Not only in appearance but I find mostly (not always) I don’t enjoy talking to them. I felt like I was moving backwards rather than forwards in terms of day game, and I’m extremely hesitant to get into it.

In saying that . Alex sent me on a mission to talk to a girl seated in a corner with headphones on and get her facebook. I was surprised to find this morning she had actually added me. Day game works. Cool beans.

Feeling weighed down by everyone else’s success and not seeing/approaching girls I actually wanted to approach I was eager to finish up day game. We sat back down at the coffee shop to debrief and round up the boot camp. In brutal honesty this was the hardest part for me and the part that really crushed me. I went out again with the guys that night and ended up leaving to head to a friend’s 21st just because I needed to feel loved. I don’t see my parents anymore, I don’t get the love that only they can provide, and I needed to feel like I belonged.

It had to be done. It’s called boot camp for a reason. I didn’t sign up to get smoke blown up my ass, I wanted change, and momentum for that change. I got it. Sadly I was approval seeking the whole time, from everyone, and I’m normally pretty content in social situations. Lacking experience with girls is a deep-set wound and it brings out an odd side of me, which will gradually be removed.

Alex gave me five points to work on, one of the major points being a makeover. I’ve been overweight for most of my life, and until recently have found my appearance has always held me back from most of life’s offerings. I thought I was at a point where it wasn’t an issue. Pre-boot camp I was quite satisfied. I loved my hairstyle, and every time I go out I felt great that I saw every other guy had a shaved head or ordinary spikey hair. I liked that I could wear shirts that were tight without worrying about the size of my gut. I liked that I consistently, without fail, hit the gym three times a week and kept a watchful eye on my diet. I felt my dress sense, for the most part, was coming together (I haven’t updated my wardrobe in a while for financial reasons). Now, I don’t know what to think.

I’m putting this in simply to show that boot camp is as real as it gets. I constantly – constantly – get compliments on my appearance. Alex broke that down and gave it to me straight. I appreciate that. It has truly shattered a lot of my self esteem and self worth because I felt I had that part of my life handled. What made this even harder was the fact that I felt I have the furthest to go in comparison to the other two students. Thanks society for teaching me to compare myself to others. I’ve now realized that I’ve developed my confidence and feelings of myself based around other people’s opinions rather than feeling good about myself because I’m the person I want to be. “Dress to express, not to impress”.

If you’re reading this and you’re yet to take a boot camp, do it. Regardless of what you think of yourself, where you’re at in life, your financial situation, do whatever it takes to get there. Alex was above and beyond any expectations I had and the time I spent with him was something that you will never get from a video or reading a forum. At the end of the day you think the best of yourself, and you hear what you want to hear from others. Boot camp for me was about moving past that, and gaining true perspective on my life and the world around me.

I’m eager to embrace my new mindset and continue the journey that begun with boot camp. I’m keen to hit the town with some Melbourne guys and have some good times.

Thanks for reading, and as a reward for trudging through my wall of text I leave you with a picture that always makes me laugh.

Mate great field report reminded me of my own boot camp... just a tip from your report dont compare yourself to others just measure the success of your night by the action you took and and whether youre living your life by the standards you set for yourself.